Scientists

Christine Friedenreich, PhD

Dr. Friedenreich focuses her research program primarily on the role of physical activity in cancer control. She has developed both a lifetime and a past-year physical activity questionnaire for use in her research studies. She is the also the Principal Investigator of several large population-based case-control and cohort studies, as well as several randomized controlled intervention trials of exercise for cancer prevention, rehabilitation and survival. Dr. Friedenreich is an AI-HS Health Senior Scholar.

Karen Kopciuk, PhD

Dr. Kopciuk’s research interests focus on the early detection of cancer; genetic and molecular biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy effectiveness and identification of high risk patients for recurrence or death; and identification of families harbouring cancer-causing genes and estimating their lifetime cancer risks.

Darren Brenner, PhD

Dr. Brenner is a molecular cancer epidemiologist in the Departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. His research is focused on the intersection of lifestyle, genetics and molecular pathways in the development of several cancers. Dr. Brenner is currently leading studies to examine the utility of biomarkers in the prediction of cancer risk. We are also examining the impact of lifestyle (obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, poor nutrition) and environmental factors on relevant genetic and molecular pathways in colorectal, breast and lung cancer risk.

Cheryl Peters, PhD

Dr. Peters is an Occupational Hygienist and Epidemiologist in the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research. Her research focuses on the impact of carcinogenic exposures occurring in workplace and community and environments. In particular, she is interested in minimizing exposures to known hazards (whether they be dusts, various chemicals, exhausts, or radiation) to reduce the risk of cancer for workers and Canadians in general. Key to these types of investigations is the complicated task of assessing people’s exposures that occurred in the past, and this area of expertise (exposure science or exposure assessment) is key to her program of research.

Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia, PhD

Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia is a clinical and descriptive cancer epidemiologist in the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research (CEPR). Her research focuses primarily on describing the burden of adolescent and young adult cancers and evaluating their related late-effects. She is additionally interested in sub-populations, such as indigenous peoples and childhood cancer survivors, and continues to undertake research comprehensively describing cancer indicators nationally, regionally, and at global levels.

Lin Yang, PhD

Dr. Lin Yang’s research primarily focuses on the role of energy balance in cancer prevention and survivorship. She has conducted several observational and intervention studies examining the impact of obesity, physical activity and sedentary behavior on cancer risk and patient outcomes in cancer survivors. With that, she is also interested in elucidating the biological and psychological mechanisms of energy balance and cancer to inform personalized interventions pathing towards sustainable scaling-up.